Last week, Tori joined Bananas on his Death, Taxes, and Bananas podcast. The two talked about The Challenge, Tori’s journey on reality TV, and the “Trial By Combat” episode of Cutthroat. Toward the end of the discussion, Tori slipped a little rumor in there: Season 42 might be the final Challenge season.
Tori revealed this when discussing Sarah Rice’s return. She praised the decision to have Sarah back because it generated a buzzy moment, which was important for the show, “for it potentially being the last season.”
Bananas quickly shut down this banter out of superstition, telling Tori not to put that into the universe. But Tori doubled down, calling it “iconic” for Sarah to come back 10 years after Bananas stole her money. Bananas seemed to agree, but he thought it would have been cooler if Sarah had won and become team captain, which obviously never happened.
To be clear, Tori specifically said potentially the last Challenge season. Which really means one thing: The show hasn’t been renewed yet.
Apparently, she’s not the only one to hear the rumors. On Twitter, a viewer asked Tina how she felt about the show’s speculated cancellation. Tina confirmed people are discussing the show’s potential end, and she hopes it isn’t true. Tina also seemed to blame the veterans’ “boring asses” for this turn of events, as she believed Cutthroat’s rookie class is moving in the right direction.
As of right now, all of this is unconfirmed. There have been rumors of the show’s cancellation many times over its 25+ year run, but this feels different, and I believe there is reason to be alarmed this time.
Paramount is set to close a multi-billion-dollar deal to merge with Warner Bros., becoming a singular entity known as Skydance. While this seems very likely, we don’t know how it will impact programming if it happens. However, these transitions often correspond with shows getting cancelled.
We don’t know what the future holds for The Challenge, especially because streaming ratings aren’t regularly shared. The Challenge usually ranks among Paramount+’s most-viewed shows when new episodes drop, but beyond that, it’s hard to gauge Cutthroat’s success.
The best thing to do: Stream the show and support your favorite Challengers. Be vocal about wanting to see them on other reality shows and highlight The Challenge’s impact on reality TV. The franchise may be in a vulnerable space right now, so every bit of support helps.
